Rudy Giuliani’s hopes of becoming the next US president effectively ended tonight after exit polls showed him coming well behind rivals John McCain and Mitt Romney in the all-important Florida primary.

Good job he didn’t invest a lot of money and energy there;

No less anxious was the former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who was likely to face calls to withdraw altogether if he placed poorly in the state into which he has poured almost all his energy and money in the hope of using it as a springboard for his presidential quest.

So that’s it then. The rather rotund diva has begun her musical performance. Your campaign is finally over. It’s time to take off the make-up and put that wig back in the cupboard. I’ll miss the drag, but not the nineeleventerrorists911septembertheeleventh. Bye-bye Rudolph, and thanks for all the fun memories. But it’s not all bad, of course, because now you get to concentrate on your first love (i.e. musical theatre).